Polishing pad assembly

ABSTRACT

The present invention is directed to a method and apparatus for polishing stone and synthetic substrates. The apparatus uses a leather polishing pad to apply a finish to a stone or synthetic substrate. The pad has a specially designed fluid channeling pattern which cools by maintaining a quantity of liquid polishing slurry centrally of the pad for cooling purposes. The grit and amount of the abrasive used with the slurry varies based on the mechanical properties of the substrate.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to polishing tools. Moreparticularly, the invention relates to a method and apparatus forpolishing synthetic materials.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Polishing tools for finishing natural and man made surfaces such ascounter tops and stone floors have made a few advances in recent years.This is due to the fact that while natural stone has been used for manyyears for both aesthetic and functional reasons, it has only been inrecent years that a variety of synthetic stone products have beenavailable.

Chief among these synthetic materials is quartz. While quartz is astrong and durable material, finishing, repairing, and polishing itremains a challenge. Standard methods for polishing quartz and othersynthetic produce unacceptable results for various reasons. For example,sandpaper and other polishing methods will tend to leave fine swirlpatterns which adversely affect the quality of the finish. Also, otherpolishing methods will tend to produce localized heating which canactually melt and destroy certain synthetics. The open cell rubber andfoam polishing pads generally used for stone are known to createdamaging hot spots.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to a method and apparatus forpolishing stone and synthetic substrates. The apparatus uses a leatherpolishing pad to apply a finish to a stone or synthetic substrate. Thepad has a specially designed fluid channeling pattern which cools bymaintaining a quantity of liquid polishing slurry centrally of the padfor cooling purposes. The grit and amount of the abrasive used with theslurry varies based on the mechanical properties of the substrate.

It is a major object of the invention to provide an improved method andapparatus for polishing stone and synthetic stone materials.

It is another object of the invention to provide an improved apparatusfor polishing synthetic stone materials.

It is another object of the invention to provide an improved method andapparatus for polishing stone and synthetic stone materials whichdissipates heat.

It is another object of the invention to provide an improved method andapparatus for polishing stone and synthetic stone materials which has anovel foam backing pad.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A shows an exploded perspective view of the polishing pad assemblyof the invention.

FIG. 1B shows a perspective view of the polishing pad assembly of theinvention.

FIG. 2 shows a side sectional view of the polishing pad assembly of theinvention.

FIG. 3 shows a plan view of a cooling component of the polishing padassembly of the invention.

FIG. 4A shows a perspective view of a buffing pad of the polishing padassembly of the invention.

FIG. 4B shows a detail of the buffing pad of the polishing pad assemblyof the invention.

FIG. 4C shows a side view of the buffing pad of the polishing padassembly of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present invention is directed to a polishing pad assembly. Theassembly can be used with any rotating sanding/abrading apparatus but isparticularly effective when used with an orbital sander. A key aspect ofthe invention is that the arrangement, structure, and materials used areeffective for use with any substrate or material to be polished, but canalso be used to polish synthetic materials.

Referring now to FIGS. 1-4C the apparatus is shown. It can be seen thatthe polishing pad 10 is actually a composite of several components whichare enclosed within an outer covering 20. In a preferred embodiment, theouter covering 20 is made of a natural animal hide such as pigskin,preferably garment quality. The use of leather for the outer covering 20takes advantage of the fact that the natural porosity of leather incombination with the tendency of leather to soften when moist reducesswirl patterns and reduces heat build up. Outer covering 20 is formed oftwo separate circular pieces of leather 22, 24 which are attached at theperiphery as by stitching 25 or other means.

A significant problem with finishing synthetic materials such as quartzis that they are actually formed of granular material, e.g., granularquartz, which is held together by a resinous material. This resinousmaterial can melt, deform, or discolor from the heat of sanding usingconventional finishing methods. The present invention reduces the riskof localized overheating by controlling or confining the liquid abrasiveslurry used for finishing. This is accomplished by way of twointermediate polishing pad components. The first of these components isa spirally arranged, segmented water control component 30. Thiscomponent 30 is segmented into a plurality of fluid controlling sections32, the spaces 34 between the sections creating fluid flow channels. Thecomponent may be a one piece component but may preferably be formed as aseries of controlling sections or “slices”. The channels 34 extendgenerally spirally from the center of the components 30, and widengradually as can be seen in FIG. 3. For a six inch diameter pad 10,channels should start at about 0.16 inches in width and increase toabout 0.42 inches at the periphery 36. These widths will increase ordecrease with increasing or decreasing diameter of the pad 10. Therelative spacing of sections 32 is maintained by affixing them, as byadhesive, to backing component 38. 3M® high strength 90 adhesive may beideally used for this purpose.

Backing component 38 is made of a flexible but water imperviousmaterial, the water impervious capability helping to retain liquidwithin the pad during finishing. Component may be made of e.g., aflexible plastic such as polypropylene. Also, more fluid will flowthrough channels 34 with a water impervious layer positioned beneaththem as this layer will not absorb any of the fluid to be channeled forcooling purposes.

It can be seen that both components 30 and 38 have axially alignedcentral apertures 40, 42 respectively, the apertures having a diameterof about 1.5 to 2 inches. The outer coverings 22, 24 are attached byadhesive or stitching 44 at the edge of the apertures 40, 42 so thatboth components 30 and 38 are completely enclosed within a circularsleeve between coverings. Apertures 40, 42 allow fluid from thesubstrate to pass therethrough, where it is then channeled away from thecenter in relatively wide swaths to help effect cooling.

FIGS. 4A-4C show a foam buffing pad 50. The buffing/polishing pad 50 isused to polish the binding polymer of any engineered/composite stonematerial. In a preferred embodiment, open cell rubber is used forbuffing pad 50. A problem with prior art buffing pads is the tendency ofthe pad to “bridge” the surface of the substrate being polished, thatis, the prior art pads could not directly contact the underlying polymerof the substrate, the polymer situated just below the surface formed bythe granules of, e.g., quartz. It can be seen that the pad 50 has aseries of perpendicular scoring marks 52 formed thereon forming a gridwith an array of raised portions. This configuration allows the pad 50to contact the underlying polymer directly by breaking the surfacetension to produce an even luster during the buffing phase of thepolishing method of the invention.

In use, once the user has attached polishing pad 10 to the sander (notshown) a liquid abrasive slurry is applied to the substrate, which againmay be quartz. When the sander is operated and the pad 10 is on thesubstrate, some moisture from the substrate will be forced up throughapertures 40 and 42 where it is forced through channels 34 creating acooling effect. The pad 10 is effective from 3,000 grit powder up to14,000 grit powder. In accordance with the inventive method, the pad 10may be used with a relatively coarse grit to start and then succesivelyfiner grit in successive steps until a desired finish is attained. Aftereach use of the pad 10, the buffing pad 50 is used to polish.

I claim:
 1. A polishing pad assembly for use with a sanding machinecomprising: a first pad, said first pad having an outer covering, saidouter covering formed of two sheets of material attached centrally andperipherally to create an inner sleeve; a water channeling componenthaving a series of channels formed therein; a water impervious componentattached to said water channeling component; said water channelingcomponent and said water impervious component enclosed within said innersleeve.
 2. The assembly of claim 1 wherein said channels are spirallyarranged and emanate from a central position of said assembly, saidchannels widening as they approach an edge region of said pad assembly.3. The assembly of claim 1 wherein said water channel component isformed of a series of fluid controlling sections.
 4. The assembly ofclaim 3 wherein said fluid controlling sections are attached to saidwater impervious component by an adhesive.
 5. The assembly of claim 1including a buffing pad for use with said sanding machine, the buffingpad used interchangeably with said first pad, said buffing pad having aplurality of score marks formed therein.
 6. The assembly of claim 1wherein said two sheets of material are made of leather.
 7. The assemblyof claim 5 wherein said buffing pad is made from open cell rubber.